BUCKHANNON – Construction on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project is expected to begin on April 1, 2018, and that is not an April Fool’s joke.
Mike Cozad, a third-party contractor for ACP, came to the Upshur County Commission’s weekly meeting Thursday to provide commissioners with a timeline and update on the building of the 42-inch, 600-mile natural gas pipeline that will extend from Harrison County, West Virginia to Robeson County, North Carolina.
On Oct. 13, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for ACP, which authorized the construction and subsequent operation of the pipeline, according to information provided at Thursday’s meeting.
People from out of state who work for ACP or one of its contractors are already trickling into Upshur County, Cozad said.
“You’ve probably seen some people coming in already with Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas license plates,” he said. “Those are inspectors and safety personnel. They’re folks that are here in advance of the large crew that will be coming in in the springtime. We’ve got maybe 40 people on board in this area now.”
Cozad himself is actually employed by Environmental Resource Management, a company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was hired by ACP to work with local officials to keep lines of communication open between ACP/Dominion and area residents, government and organizations in Upshur and Lewis counties.
“What ACP has decided to do is put some folks out in the community working day-to-day with whomever to try to make this transition, and what I want to do today is to give you guys an idea of who we are, what we’re about and what our roles are,” Cozad said. “So any glitches that come up or problems that come up, I want you to know I’m here.”
Cozad described himself and his backup liaison, Denise Campbell, as “the go-to people.”
Cozad said the majority of employees slated to work on the project will be arriving in Upshur County in March 2018.
“The big influx of people will be in March,” he said. “In the latter part of March, you’ll see a whole lot of people coming in here and getting set up with the anticipated start date (of construction) 1 April 2018. Prior to that, we will be dropping trees, but that’s a much smaller impact – they’re just going out, felling the trees and moving on.”
The Record Delta – Katie Kuba – 11.17.2017
Posted by: Nelson Bailey
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